


The Lone Wolf returns

by Lianria



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, game of thrones
Genre: Character Death, F/M, Mentions of Rape/Torture Not explicit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-12-09 00:44:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20986013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lianria/pseuds/Lianria
Summary: Arya is returned to Westeros, and a Stormlord mourns.





	The Lone Wolf returns

**Author's Note:**

> My husband recently did a rewatch of GOT and was confused that while the show stated that Talisa was a highborn Volantine, there was never any repercussions for her death. And after one of our many discussions on how Arya's ending was just plain wrong, he threw out that maybe she was still trying to protect the family from something. Those conversations, and a very dark mental place spawned this. I cried like a baby writing this, and honestly it made me feel better. Its not funny, its not silly, its painful.

Something had happened to Arya, something awful.

The Stormlord was battle hardened, a bastard of Flea Bottom, escaped Kings Landing, survived Harrenhall and the Riverlands, Stannis' Red Witch, and the Long Night. If he'd learned anything in that time it was to trust his gut, especially where Arya was concerned.

Arya had been gone six months, and his scouts he absolutely did not have on the coasts hadn't sent any word. His raven to Ser Davos simply got an answer of "Come quickly". Gendry was on a horse that night riding hard leaving his surviving half brother, Edric Storm, in charge. The boy needed the practice as the Stormlands would be his soon. Gendry was a craftsman, not a lord, and six months as one had quickly reminded him of why he hated all but about four members of the highborn class.

Gendry arrived at the Red Keep to see Sam, the Grand Maester, running out to greet him with Davos close behind. Sam's face was red with exertion and soaked with tears, and Davos was grim but his eyes were rimmed red. 

"What the hells is going on? What's happened to her?" Gendry demanded dropping off the horse.

Sam let out a half sob and Davos sighed deeply.

"A trader from Volantis docked a week ago. Said he had a gift for Bran. Gave a box to the guards and left." 

Gendry was surprised "Volantis doesn't trade with us. Not since the Red Wedding. Have they changed that stance?"

Sam nodded "A.... deal was reached. And they've opened up to trading with us again. But the cost was dear. You need to come inside and see for your self. Queen Sansa and Jon are only a few days ride behind you."

Gendry was concerned, both by Sam's words and Davos' hand on his shoulder clamped down like iron. They led him into the Small Council room where a silent, but teary eyed Brienne stood guard. A box sat on the table, nothing appeared to be special about it, just a dark wood box. Davos let got of his shoulder and motioned Gendry towards to box.

"Open it son." 

Gendry's stomach dropped and a chill settled over him that felt like he was back on that pile of bodies with Tormund. In that box, cradled on a reddish brown cloth were three pieces of a thin sword and a dagger with blood dried on the blade. Needle and Catspaw. 

Gendry could feel the strength leave his legs as he fell into a chair. He could head murmurs around him as other arrived. He could not, would not, take his eyes off the broken and bloodied weapons. As he stared into the box, he noticed the fabric beneath them wasn't dyed reddish brown, but stained. Soaked in blood. Her blood. Arya's precious blood.

Gendry wasn't sure how long he sat there staring, but eventually he realized he wasn't alone. Bran had joined him silently, joining in staring at the dried blood of his sister. 

"What happened to her?" Gendry croaked, his throat tight and straining not to let loose the howls he very desperately wanted to. 

Bran sighed softly "I will tell everyone once Sansa and Jon arrive. You were sent the first Raven, but it never arrived. I warn you it's not going to be a good story."

Gendry stared at him in horror. "A good story?! A good fucking story? Arya's blood coats everything in that box, Needle is shattered, and you think I give a fuck about a good story?!"

Bran silently regarded him. A flash of almost sadness flashed across his eyes before they died back to the neutral blankness they were used to. Gendry stood up shakily and made his way to his chambers within the keep. He tore off his riding clothes and used the basin to clean up. He dressed in some of the simple clothes he kept at the Keep and turned to the bed. 

Flashes crossed his eyes of the night after the council meeting that elected Bran king, his storming up to her as she loitered outside his chambers. Flashes of Arya and him fighting, grabbing each other, desperately trying to lose themselves in each other. He couldn't accept that she was leaving again after everything, trying to convince her to stay. She didn't have to marry him but he needed her desperately, Sansa needed her, Arya claimed she was too damaged from running constantly since her fathers death, she needed to actually face and deal with everything and the best way to do that was on a boat sailing to absolutely no where. She no more believed there was anything west of Westeros than any Iron Born, but isolated with no one to fight and run from she'd have to actually face her demons, she was taking two Maester who knew how to deal with mental trauma. She wasn't running to explore, she was going to try to heal her mind.

He loved her all afternoon, all night and well into the morning. She sobbed in his arms, told him she loved him and would do everything in her power to come back to him. But she didn't want him to wait for her, he deserved happiness after everything, Gendry had just laughed softly and reminded her that he was a grumpy fuck and the only one who made that better was her. He wouldn't wait, but he could damn well guarantee he wouldn't be looking for anything other than her sails on the horizon or a horse carrying her little self back to him.

He had ridden out that afternoon, her bite mark on his chest throbbing and the feel of her kiss on his lips. He was resolved to fix what so many wars had broken. And upon the discovery of the survival of another of his fathers bastards, a high born on at that, Gendry had gotten to work repairing the shattered Stormlands and getting his brother trained up to rule so that as soon as the boy was grown Gendry could step down and go back to his forge and "not" wait for Arya to return to him.

But she wasn't coming back. She was dead, all of that blood could only mean death.

In this room he could feel her again, faintly smell her, he couldn't stand it. He dragged his boots back on and made his way back to the chamber, one again take up his vigil of staring at her box.

Sansa and Jon arrived a week later, riding hard and with mercifully clear roads and weather. Gendry sat and stared at that box every day. As if it were her actual body, he wouldn't leave her alone. She'd spent far to long alone. Sansa stepped in quietly and took one look at the cloth and collapsed. "She asked me to make her that cloak before she left. Very specific. The direwolf patch was removeable, had all of our names on it. On the inside there was a little bull she wanted sewn in, should have laid just over her heart. Said it was for you Gendry." Jon took one look at the shattered pieces of Needle, let out a sob and stormed to the window. Gripping the windowsill until his knuckles were white with his head hung low. The three stood in silence until a light dinner was brought in and Sansa and Jon retired to their chambers, with Jon promising to come back as soon as he woke so that Gendry could sleep. Both men silently acknowledging that the box was never to be left alone.

Jon returned at the hour of the wolf, and Gendry settled into the bed in his chambers and slept fitfully for a few hours, and back to the chamber before dawn.

Sansa arrived with a light breakfast and handed Gendry a plate filled with food and glared at him until he started eating. Eventually Podrick and Brienne silently wheeled Bran into the room, followed by Sam, Davos, Tyrion and a huge wolf. Gendry heard Sansa whisper "Nymeria" as the huge animal approached, he'd heard that the wolf had shown up in the Red Keep a week after Arya left. The beast walked to him and laid down resting her head on Gendry's lap a mournful whine slipping from her massive jaws. 

Jon opened his mouth to say something but no sound came out and he turned back to the window. 

"Years ago, during the war of the Five Kings, Robb made a mistake. One that would cost the lives of hundreds of people, Robb himself included. He broke a betrothal vow, married a high born lady from Volantis, and they, our mother, and hundreds of North men died. The Volantines' immediately ceased trade with Westeros and demanded the return of Talisa's remains. They were ignored. And so they waited and watched. The houses they blamed for her murder were slowly dying, The Frey's, the Lannister's and the Stark's." Bran paused for a moment. 

"However after the fall of Kings Landing, the Magyars we're pleased to discover the Frey's were wiped out, the Lannister's down to one, but were enraged that the House they held responsible for Talisa even being at the damned wedding had not only survived but now boasted two monarchs. One holding the same title as their deceased daughter, Queen in the North." Gendry glances at Sansa, her face could have been carved from ice, Jon had stepped behind her and gently laid a hand in her shoulder.

Bran looked at Tyrion for a moment before he continued. 

" Within a week of my election, I received a message from Volantis. They wanted restitution for their dead daughter, and demanded a Stark daughter be handed over. Their exact words were 'You have a spare.' If we refused they would declare war and whomever they didn't kill they would enslave. Westeros wouldn't survive another war. Arya came to see me before she left and saw the letter." 

Gendry's heart dropped. He knew Arya, knew the second she'd seen that threat to her family that she'd act. Knew she'd die to protect them from a war they could not win. 

Sansa let out a strangled sob and Jon looked like he'd forgotten how to breathe. 

"She went didn't she, you left it out so she would see it and go. To appease them, prevent a war she knew Westeros couldn't survive. You told none of us and just let our sister go." Sansa was shaking, from sorrow or rage Gendry couldn't tell as the same emotions were warring within him.

"Yes. She sailed far enough away for everyone's various scouts not to notice and turned for Volantis. She told me not to tell any of you until it was done. Until she was home one way or another. We had a slim hope they'd let her live, but neither of us really knew what to expect. Arya considered this a family situation, not a political one. Our sister left to clean up our brothers mess. I monitored her the entire time, she knew she wasn't alone."

Tyrion cleared his throat and unfolded a piece of parchment. "This was left with the box. It states that many versions of what happened that night had reached Volantis. And that every.... every version of Talisa's murder was visited upon the girl. It's very detailed, and I beg all of you to forgive me not reading it aloud because I cannot do it. Suffice to say, Arya Stark suffered greatly to save us all. Again. The letter says she did not resist or fight back, she had accepted her fate. Ultimately Talisa's brother had mercy and ended her suffering. He wrote that each night she would whisper names, over and over like a prayer. When questioned she said it was a list of the people she had come to protect, he's goes on to list the names. Gendry, Sansa, Jon, Bran, Hot Pie..."

Gendry slammed to his feet and ran out of the room. He'd heard the various versions of the Red wedding, and now all he could see was Arya being tortured, raped, beaten over and over. He made it a few feet down the hall before he dropped to his knees and vomited into a planter. The sobs hot and hard as he pictured her pain. Three eyed raven be damned, she's been alone. He should have been there damnit! He should have found some way to tie her to a bed or lock her in a chamber and kept her safe even if she would have hated him for it. 

Soft steps came up behind him but he couldn't care. Sansa gently placed her hand on his shoulder and turned him to face her, her face red and tear streaked, Jon behind her looked the same. Gendry stood and the three embraced and sobbed into each other, using the others to keep themselves upright. Slowly the tears stopped and they moved back into the chamber, someone had cleared the others out and started a fire. Brienne stood beside the box, tears streaming down her face.

"Her ships sails were seen this morning, and we received a raven just a short while ago, they should be at dock by sundown. They allowed her men to bring her ho...home." The Knight's voice broke as she fought to hold back a sob. 

Nymeria lay on the floor in front of the table, facing the box. A soft whimper escaped her and Gendry knelt down to bury his face in her soft pelt. The she-wolf curled around him as if to hold him. He noticed the parchment Tyrion had received was sitting beside the box, he reached up to pull it down. Davos and Edric has been teaching him to read and write and he'd gotten pretty good. Jon moved to stop him.

"Gendry don't..."

"I have to Jon. I have to know what she went through. She suffered alone at least this way I can..." Can what Gendry didn't know, but he needed to know what she'd endured. He owed it to her, to understand what it took to save them, yet again. 

He read silently, mentally having to sound out some of the words, but enough to know Arya had been abused every way a woman could be. Raped. Scourged. Beaten. Burned. Paraded through the streets before mercifully being stabbed to death. At least they were returning her bones. 

Gendry was sobbing again by the time he finished reading. Sansa wrapped her arms around his shoulders and cried with him, she'd read over his shoulder but couldn't finish it. The horror, pain and humiliation her baby sister had endured made Ramsey Bolton seem like a child burning bugs with glass.

Jon silently handed them a wet cloth to wipe their faces and returned to the window staring down at the dock. Arya's ship had made port, and her men were tying off below. The sails at full, the dire wolf sigil covered by a strip of black fabric. Jon glared at the bright sunshine, his baby sister was dead. Died horribly to protect them all, while he'd been off wandering around in the fucking snow. 

Jon turned to Sansa, and the man who should have been their good brother. "She's home." The three silently moved as one down to the docks. The others lined the walls, Edmure and Robin Arryn had arrived as well. Soldiers from Winterfell, River Run and the Eyrie lined the dock and the walk back up to the castle. Every man had a strip of black cloth tied around their arm. 

Nymeria passed infront of Gendry, her whimpers increasing to sound like human sobs. Nymeria trotted onto the deck of the ship, where Gendry could see all of Arya's men, some battered and bruised, with their heads bowed as Edmure Tully emerged from the captains quarters, Arya's Quarters, carrying a box of polished dark wood. He could see a dire wolf banner draped across the top. Arya's bones were in that box. The dire wolf came to a stop before the man, gave a small sniff and loosed a mournful howl that shook Gendry to his core. Sansa grabbed desperately at his hand and she held onto him and Jon to keep standing. Edmure stepped slowly, with more care than anyone had ever seen, as he made his way down the ramp as if he was carrying the most precious treasure in the world. And he was. Arya was precious, worth more than fifty high born lords and all their lands and gold.

Edmure stopped in front of Bran, silent tears running down his face, Bran looked at Gendry and the blank expression there made him want to pitch the king into the sea. Edmure followed Bran's gaze and stepped up to the Stormlord. 

"Will you carry her inside? I don't have the strength." 

Gendry would have carried her anywhere, alive and laughing. Or more realistically smacking him and demanding to be put down. He stepped away from Sansa and took the horrifically light box in his arms. Gods above his fucking hammer weighed more. 

Sansa and Jon stepped to either side of him and gently rested their hands on the box as Gendry carried his love into the castle she had hated with such passion. Nymeria followed still howling. Ghost waited for them at the entrance of the castle, he tried desperately to comfort his sister but to no avail. 

Gendry didn't stop until he was back in the Small Council chamber. Jon moves the box containing her weapons to the side and Gendry placed his burden down as gently as he would have if it had been their babe. A babe she had whispered to him that last night that she desperately wanted but feared. How was he still crying, there could not be that much water in his body. 

The room spun as he straightened and Jon grabbed him before he could fall. Sansa held a goblet of water to Gendry's lips and begged him to drink. Jon called for Sam. But Gendry barely registered their voices. She was home, She was dead. She was gone forever. He'd never wished for Jaquen Ha'gar to appear and kill him more. How could he survive in a world where she didn't exist? He'd managed before, after they'd been separated because there'd been enough rumors for him to know she was alive. If she'd been dead the Lannister's would have celebrated that for days. 

Tyrion stepped in the room and said something to Sansa about a burial. 

"She will be buried at Winterfell. With her family. She fought for years to go home and she will be buried there." Gendry's voice was cold and clear. He'd promised once to take her home, he'd failed then. He'd make sure she got home now. 

Sansa smiled at him, her mouth quivering as she held back sobs. She told Tyrion quietly they would leave at dawn, she wanted to take her sister home. She did not want to linger in the graveyard that was King's Landing, it had taken too much from her: her Father, her innocence, her faith in people, her brother and now her sister. Gendry nodded at her, and moved to the door. He waved Davos over. 

"I'm taking her home. I am going with them to Winterfell, I will return but the damn second that boy is of age I am gone."

Davos nodded sadly and turned to walk away, he had a raven to send to a small inn in the Riverlands.

Dawn broke, clear and sunny, it made his stomach turn. He carried her box slowly down to the small wagon and placed her gently on the thick furs and stepped back to let her be secured. Nymeria and Ghost laid on the wagon, their heads on either side of her. Jon and Gendry rode at the head, just in front of her while Sansa rode in a carriage just behind her with Robin Arryn inside with her and Edmure Tully keeping pace. A column of soldiers followed behind and another to the front, banners of the Starks at the front carried by men in Baratheon, Tully, Arryn and Stark Livery. She was of all of their houses and they would honor her. It was slow going which gave Gendry time to remember, remember every step of his first journey north with a small girl who was a gigantic pain in his ass. As they rode he told Jon. He'd always felt it was Arya's story to tell, but she hadn't had time. Jon told him stories of her as a child, always the tiny champion of her bastard brother. 

When they reached the Riverlands, a small band of outlaws joined their ranks. The remains of the brotherhood without banners who hadn't gone north with Beric and Thoros.

When they reached the Inn at the Crossroads, Hot Pie was waiting at the door. Tears streamed down his face as he fed them all, refusing any compensation and just asked for a moment to say goodbye to her. Gendry stood off to one side as the fat man sobbed like a child on the wagon, both apologizing and thanking the dead woman's bones in turn. He climbed down and pulled Gendry into a crushing hug and made him swear on her that he would come see him again before he went north for good.

He gave Sansa four loaves of Direwolf bread, and she stoically thanked him and causally mentioned if he ever wanted to see the north, Winterfell needed a baker, Hot Pie nodded harshly and went inside. Gendry could hear his sobs as they rode away. 

At the neck Crannogmen lined the road for a mile. Howland Reed joined their march along with his daughter Meera. Meera has gone North with Bran, but refused to speak of it. So she told them what had happened with Rickon. Eventually they reached the road to Winterfell, and saw banners of every noble house lining the road, all kneeling to pay homage to the lost Princess. Gendry felt like he had cried his last tear when they left Hot Pie, until he saw Tormund. Saw the raw sorrow on the Wildlings face. He and Jon dismounted and Tormund grabbed them both, and the two grown men sobbed into his shoulders. The wildings all fell into step amongst the soldiers , they'd fought hell itself together and now they mourned a woman together. 

When they reached Winterfell, Jon carried his little sisters bones into the great hall. Gendry's arms jerked with the need to take her himself, but Jon was her brother and he needed to do this. Her broken blade, the stained cloak, and the shattered spear he had made her for the Long Night were arranged in-front of the box. A silk Stark banner was draped across the top. As people filed in to pay respects, Sansa slipped her mask of Queen in place. She offered to have Gendry rooms made up, but he declined and said he'd be in the forge. It's where he felt her. He slipped out and down to the storage room. Jon found him down there an hour later, a discarded cloak clutched to his chest as he knelt by the sacks of grain and shook with sobs. 

Jon didn't speak , simply placed his hand in his friends shoulder, he knew how deeply Gendry had loved his sister. Gendry talked in his sleep especially when stressed or exhausted, Jon had heard Gendry whispering Arya's name in his sleep since they met at Dragonstone. He could well imagine the pain the other man was in, Ygritte and Dany's faces flashes before his eyes. It was a grief that never really left and knowing what's she'd suffered, and that unlike his girls Arya had been alone, made it so much worse. 

Eventually Gendry rose and Jon walked him to the kitchen to eat something then watched him trudge to the dark force and disappear inside. The last time a Baratheon had lost his Northern love, a country had been torn apart. Jon knew Gendry wouldn't do anything like his father he had to hold the Stormlands together until Edric was ready, after that however is what worried him. He feared for his friend, the man later bed for the day he'd see Arya again. Now he never would.

Her funeral was short and simple and they Starks carried her down into the crypts. He's tried to stay behind as he wasn't a Stark until Sansa grabbed his hand and drug him down saying as far as she was concerned he was and if she had her way he'd end up down here too. Beside her sister for eternity where he belonged.

Jon opened Arya's crypt and Gendry gently laid her bones inside. He pressed a kiss to his hand and touched it to the box silent tears running down his face. Gods he could hear her rolling her eyes at him. They sealed the crypt and ascended to the world of the living and Gendry vaguely noticed everything was grey tinged now. The world was less because she was gone. That night in the silent forge Gendry slept the deep sleep of the sedated, Jon had slipped a phial into his drink at dinner because Gendry needed sleep and Arya would haunt him from the beyond if he didn't take care of her favorite idiot, and frankly he was worried the Smith would hurt himself in his exhaustion and grief.

Gendry dreamed, he was standing in the gods wood with Sansa and John, Aryas box lay in the middle of the clearing. As they watched the tree glowed and figures began to appear. Sandor Clegane, Beric Dondarrion, Theon Greyjoy, Benjen Stark, wolves of various sizes, Lommy Green Hands, Rickon Stark, Robb Stark, Catlyn Stark, and finally Ned Stark. Ned looked at all three standing with a sad smile, Robb and Rickon waved to their siblings, Cat stared mournfully at Sansa. The others all stared at the box. 

Ned and Robb stepped forward and each reached a hand through the lid of the box and very gently pulled backwards. Her hands slid into view, followed by the rest of her. Gendry's jaw dropped in shock, her build was the same as he'd last seen her, her hair longer than he'd ever seen and bound in a simple braid, but her clothes were exactly what she'd worn all those years ago when they were tramping through the woods together. She looked beautiful. He knelt and just stared in awe as her father and brother pulled her out of the box. They each embraced her, her mother joining them. She slowly released them and waved to those all around her before turning to face the living. She glided over to hug her crying brother, and gently embrace her sister whispering in their ears. Then she turned to him, she walked over to him and sank to her knees in front of him. She softly reached up and gently touched his face, God's he could feel her, she pressed a soft kiss to his lips. She pressed her forehead against his and just stared into his eyes sadly. He tried to think of something anything to say.

"I love you." She smiled.

"I love you too. Please don't hate me. It was the only way. I tried to come home, I just wasn’t strong enough." 

"No Arry, you were plenty strong. And I could never hate you Arya. Ever. Gods I want to..."

His voice cracked, and her hands flew up to his face. He could just barely feel their warmth.

"Don't you dare Gendry Waters. Don't you dare follow me this soon. You waited for me, now it's my turn to wait for you. Go, explore, be happy, fall in love."

His hand hovered next to her face afraid to touch her, before she nuzzled her cheek into his palm.

"Can't do that last one, girl sailed away with my heart and never brought it back. I'm going to stay here. I always promised you I would be here, so I will be."

Arya kissed him again gently and smiles.

"Don't turn into me and the Hound my love, don’t fixate on your losses. Your stronger than both of us. I will always be with you. And far in the future when it's your time, I'll be there waiting for you." 

Robb stepped forward. 

"Arya, its time to go."

She smiles sadly and kisses him one last time before rising and smiling at her siblings one last time before walking over to her brother and taking his hand. Her dead slipped back into the tree one by one, she followed last behind her brother and father and sent him one last smile before the trees glow faded.

Gendry jerked awake, he bolted for the godswood, arriving about the same time as Jon. 

"You had the dream too?" 

Jon nodded swallowing. "She got to say goodbye. She's at peace now." 

Gendry nodded jerkily and stared at the tree, fresh red tears poured out of its eyes. Winterfell itself and the Gods were mourning her.

Gendry left a few days later, the former brotherhood members rode with him. He felt completely detached, and somehow lighter, he knew he rode south to train up a teenage boy in something he'd never been trained for himself. He knew he was coming back, but the farther south he went the more gnawing pain he felt. He could still feel her kiss, hear her soft whisper telling him to live and that she'd be waiting for him when it was time. He rode on with Nymeria at his side, she'd adopted him after the gods wood dream and was never far from him. Sansa said it just proved the gods considered him a Stark. Arya's husband. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

It took years, but he was finally back in Winterfell. Edric was grown, and had taken over the Stormlands along side his new bride, a lovely young lady from a minor house in the Reach. He rode to the Inn and saw Hot Pie, he'd been married and they'd had a little boy. Sadly his wife hadn't survived the birthing. Hot Pie named the boy Arry. They joined him on his journey North, Sansa was expecting them and according to the letter " About bloody time you two!" 

Gendry moved right back into the forge, as if he'd never left. Sansa had done incredible things as Queen, changed inheritance to go to the eldest child regardless of gender with an equal settlement for any additional siblings, pushed for Bastards to be seen as equal after all two of the Heroes of the North were Bastards and it was a woman who killed the Night King saving them all. She married a man she'd known as a child before they'd ever left Winterfell, and had two beautiful children, Eddard Robbert and Arya Catlyn. Both the spitting image of their name sakes, and it broke Gendry's heart a little bit each day, but he doted on those children and little Arry. Those three were thick as thieves with Gendry's own apprentice, Mycah, a bastard orphan like himself. The boy had a temper but would melt like snow the moment Little Arya turned her large grey eyes on him. Sansa said it was like looking into the past except the blacksmith was a blazing redhead with sharp blue eyes. He was one of Tormunds Gendry would be this life on it. He told those four every story he could about his adventures with Arya and who she really was, not just what the songs claimed. He never told them how she'd sacrificed herself for the good of all a second time. 

It's been twelve years since Arya had sailed away and come home in a box. Twelve years of dreaming of her, going down to her crypt on her name day and the day she died. Nine years since he'd been back for good, watching Sansa rule like the queen she was born to be. Nine years of not giving two shits about the south and their petty squabbles and nine years of finally feeling like he was home. Six years since Nymeria returned from a jaunt north and whelped pups. Four years since she and Ghost died in their sleep curled up together. Three years since Bran vanished and all that was found was a pile of feathers. He was not mourned. Poor Tyrion ended up on that awful throne. Only then did any real relations return between the North and the South. Sansa had refused any olive branch from the creature inhabiting Brans body.

He's shocked when it finally happens, he'd felt a strange tingling in his arm, trouble getting a good breath, a pressure on one side of his chest. The Maester checked him over and sent him off to his bed with a tonic for his heart. He took it and laid down to sleep.

He woke up to fingers running through his hair and a voice softly humming, he was in the softest feather bed he had ever known, warm and comfortable. There was a warm pressure against his side. He slowly opened his eyes and saw grey ones looking at him softly. 

"There's my bull. I was wondering when you'd wake up." 


End file.
